life in a northern town: how do you measure...

measure a year...in daylights, in sunsets...in midnights, in cups of coffee...in inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife...in five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes...measure in love...

I tried to sum up the past year in a just few words but this song kept popping into my head. There are too many words to describe the past 12 months. It was a year of many ups and downs...thankfully it had many more ups than downs, we are so blessed.

In January, I flew down to Milwaukee for girls weekend in Kenosha at Caitlen and Jon’s house. We watched movies, drank wine and stayed up late catching up on each others lives. C&J’s son, Jackson, is such an entertaining little boy...he had learned how to say “hey ladies” before we got there...it was about the cutest thing ever.

The next few months were busy with planning, finalizing, and stressing about the soon approaching wedding! I really enjoyed most of the planning process...but it is definitely something you only do once. You couldn't pay me to do that part over again.

In March, Joe decided it was time to sell his beloved boat. Even though we enjoyed it, we just didn't use it enough...all of our parents have places on lakes and they all have boats, we just never took it out and it wasn't worth the cost of insurance and winterizing each year when it was only used once or twice each summer.

March also brought fun...showers and bachelorette parties! My first shower was hosted by my fabulous friends AJ & Kristin at Kiln Kreations in Woodbury, where my family and friends painted plates, bowls, platters and dog dishes for us. It was so much fun and something unique and different, which was what I wanted.

Here are the two fabulous hosts and their moms:

And being the bride to be, I got to put my hand on the wall and sign it...mine is the purple one.

My other shower was held in Stanley by my other fabulous friend, Krista, and her mom, Julie. It was a traditional shower with great food and games...I have some of the most generous people in my life, I'm so grateful. We got some really great things for our house. After the shower, we headed into EC to stay at Kristin's house and hit the big bar scene of EC. It was actually pretty low key and just the way I like it. We grabbed dinner at Mona Lisa's and made sure to get spuds o' plenty at Mogie's. Here are the besties who helped me celebrate my last night out as a single lady: Jessica, Debbie, me, AJ, Kristin and Krista.

The Elton John glasses my sister got for me to wear:

In April, after months and months of planning, the big day FINALLY arrived and I became a BRIDE...

And then became a MRS...

The day was picture perfect. Yes, like everyone, there were a few minor hiccups (pouring rain, people who had declined show up, hurting my leg) but I wouldn't have changed a thing. Everything worked out perfectly and I had the most perfect and happiest day of my life. I wish I could live that day over and over again. And at the end of it all, I got the greatest man in the world.

One of the hiccups left more than just a memory...when I was walking to my chair on the head table, my leg fell through the riser and the wall. There was about a 4 inch gap between the two and of course I managed to step right on the gap. It hurt like hell the rest of the night (and for months after) but I didn't let it stop me and ruin my night...as they say, the show must go on. And I had a blast. There was lots of drinking, dancing and laughter with all of our favorite people in the world...and that's all I could have asked for.

The following week, we headed to VEGAS! Joe had never been there before and we stayed at the New York, New York Hotel:

We had a week full of gambling and food. We saw the Cirque du Soleil show "KA" at MGM. We also spent one evening in the old part of the strip. We loved the Golden Nugget and Binion's, they had way better slot payouts. However, I still managed to lose all of my money in my gambling envelope. Joe, on the other hand, had beginners luck at the craps tables and won back all of the money we had brought to gamble and then some. It was a success!

We also headed to the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop (aka Pawn Stars) one morning. Joe got his picture taken with the old man, a rare occurrence that he was actually there and willing to take pics with fans:

In May, we went to our first Twins game together at Target Field. It was a VERY hot afternoon in May, well over 90 degrees. Our friends Jason and Lisa took us, it was great to hang out with them.

We also held our 3rd annual family garage sale in May. We were able to sell most of our stuff (we had to clean house to make room for all of our wonderful gifts we received) and we even had a few kiddos who liked playing with the old fax machine Joe's mom was trying to sell, it was pretty cute. We also had our first encounter with a fake $20. By the time we realized it was fake, they were of course long gone. We called the cops and gave them the 20, along with descriptions of the thieves and their car. Unfortunately we weren't the only ones hit...the cops told us they had been hitting quite a few in the area over the weekend. A month later, Joe was called in for a photo lineup and he believes he identified the right woman...we haven't heard back since or got our money back. Lesson learned...buy a counterfeit pen!

June brought a huge milestone for me, I rolled over 100,000 miles on my car. And with that, it seems to have brought huge expenses with it. It has been a year of maintenance flushes and a few somewhat minor repairs...even though in total, the expenses have been cheaper than having a new car with payments, I'm hoping the few grand we had to fork over this year is not a regular expense to come. I guess that is what happens with an older car you drive 70 miles a day on...but the mechanics assure me that since I take such great care of it, it should no doubt last another 7. (fingers & toes are crossed!)

The summer came and went with the blink of an eye. We were able to head up to my parents lake place over the Fourth and enjoy the wonderful summers we have here. Shiloh loves to go on the pontoon with us:

I celebrated my final birthday of my 20's in July. I had a little too much to drink that day but I enjoyed my last celebration before the big 3-0! They say your 30s are way better than your 20s...so hopefully that will make it more bearable when the big day comes.

I spent many hours over the summer changing my name on all of my accounts and switching everything over to our joint account. To this day, I'm still finding random things I forgot to update...will it EVER end?!?

The summer of 2010 also brought the news of Wells Fargo Financial being closed. It was over a month that we had no idea if Joe was going to have a job or not. It was the first time the recession had hit so close to home...it was eye opening and scary. But we made it through and Joe was thankfully moved to the bank. Although not his choice of career, it's a paycheck and health insurance until he can find something better.

In August, we finished the updates to our kitchen. And after 2 years of being without, I finally got my dishwasher, yay! It is seriously heaven on earth. We also had to replace our furnace and air conditioner this fall. Although that was a hefty bill to pay, we had put it off long enough...it was way over due and needed to be done...I'm looking forward to having central air next summer, after 2 summers of using window units.

September brought Shiloh's 3rd birthday...I can't believe how fast the time goes. Besides her occasional outbursts of chewing random things (for example, Joe's lunch bag...seriously, that looked good enough to eat?!?), she is such a great dog and we love her so much. I just want to slow down time...we don't get enough years with our beloved pets!

I also ran my first 5K EVER in September. I ran the whole way and raised $50 for Special Olympics. It was such an awesome feeling to cross the finish line. Although I've fallen off the wagon since, I'm hoping the new year motivates me (not to mention my pants feeling tighter after the holidays) to get back on track.

Joe also got his new toy this fall...his 4 wheeler. It's actually more than just a toy, he uses it to plow our driveway, along with hunting and ice fishing. Although he lost his boat, it was replaced with a more practical toy ;) See, not all married men lose their toys once they get hitched, LOL.

In October, I headed to the Madison area to celebrate Krista and Holly turning 30. It happened to fall on the weekend of Halloween, so we dressed up and celebrated in style at Krista and Kyle's house. It was a fun weekend, I wish we all lived closer so we could do this more than once or twice a year.

I also gave up the job search in October. After months of searching, I got tired of looking and will stay with GD for now. There just wasn't anything worth leaving my current job for. Maybe after things turn around some, I can start looking for something closer to home.

In November, I experienced my first TRUE Black Friday shopping. The night before, we went out about 9:30pm to see if anyone was camped out...and sure enough, in single digit temps, people were already out and had set up ice houses to stay warm. Only in Minnesota! I didn't go to those extremes but I did roll out of bed at 2:30am to be at Kohl's when they opened at 3am!

The month also brought the end of my lease agreement on my town house. We really lucked out, he took such great care of it. Unfortunately it was time for him to move on but we have a new renter that moved in this week. We went through a rental company this time and I got to meet the new tenant. She seems really promising and looking to stay long term...time will tell, I guess.

And as we neared the end of 2010, we had the "2010 Blizzard" on December 11th that brought well over 1.5 feet of snow to the metro. The entire metro had practically shut down, it was pretty crazy. I hope that is the worst we will see for a very long time. For Joe's 29th birthday, we headed to the Vikings game...which ended up being the very last Vikings game of the season (and possibly ever??) in the Metrodome, since it ended up collapsing the weekend after we were there. Here we are during the game:

And exactly one week later...

We had a wonderful Christmas in Wisconsin with my family. My sister flew home, it makes me wish MN and AZ weren't so far apart. But it makes us cherish the time we do get together, makes it that more special.

I also chopped my hair again last week (very much needed)...please excuse the high school cell phone picture and my favorite goodwill find of a sweatshirt...I was too lazy to put my sweater back on after I'd changed into my sweats :)